Dead Island 2's Haus DLC feels like a homage to Bioshock and Deathloop
Prepare yourself for a "surreal, psycho-horror dreamscape"
I was mixed on Dambusters' Dead Island 2 - I thought the combat had flair but not much depth, loved the game's decadently disastrous Los Angeles, but hated how exploration boiled down to nosing around for crafting materials. The game's first story DLC expansion, Haus, amps up the weirdness of the environments by transporting you to a "surreal, psycho-horror dreamscape" in blissful Malibu.
There are flashes of Glass Onion and The Menu here, but I was reminded just as much of the eerier parts of Bioshock, that underwater monument to crackpot billionaires with far too much time on their hands. Here's a video of the opening.
Out on PC via the Epic Games Store on 2nd November, Haus is the story of an affluent cult led by some Andrew Ryan-adjacent figure named Konstantin, which operates out of a sprawling 1960s modernist mansion on the coast with some... interesting extensions that put me in mind of Arkane's more elaborate level concepts.
There's some backstory on the official Dead Island 2 website in which a reporter warns us that "if you receive an invitation to Haus - however curious you are, whatever promises are made - do NOT go."
But what about those of us who already bought the Dead Island 2 expansion pass, mate? We've already made a commitment, and besides which, it says here that the new area includes a "deranged labyrinth of biomes", which seem to range from model towns in glass cages to some kind of neon diner occupied by a pig-headed boss. I could sure go for a deranged biome. It sounds a lot more entertaining than the main game's hotels, influencer McMansions and military checkpoints, as fun as they were to explore.
The Haus expansion also includes eight new skill cards with which to customise your zombie slayer, and at least two new weapons: a scoped crossbow for discreet head-popping, and a Hog Roaster for less discreet incendiary cleaving. I can take or leave those, I reckon.
Haus is but the first Dead Island 2 DLC pack. The second, SOLA Festival, lands next year. Rick's Dead Island 2 review remains the best one I've read.